Press Box

Friday

Jul 30, 2010 at 12:46 AMJul 30, 2010 at 2:23 AM

Rick Pitino, worried that his wife and kids would find out he had a one-night stand with a woman he met in a bar, acknowledged yesterday that he didn’t immediately tell police about demands for cars, cash and housing, so he could keep the tryst secret. The Louisville basketball coach told jurors he kept quiet for nearly two months, hoping he could “contain” the damaging information. Intimate details emerged over the past two days as Pitino, 57, testified against the woman, Karen Cunagin Sypher, at her federal extortion trial. He recounted the sex and the threatening calls that he said left him “sick to my stomach” and strongly denied allegations he raped Sypher. Pitino had to pause, look down and gather himself yesterday as he told jurors in Louisville the hardest part of the case: telling his family about the 2003 affair after he reported the alleged extortion demands to the FBI in April 2009. Pitino, who coached in the NBA before taking over at Louisville in 2001, said his best two years came when his son Richard served as an assistant. But as the secrets came out, the partnership had to end. Richard Pitino wound up taking a job at the University of Florida.

Eddie House’s agent says the veteran guard has agreed to terms on a $2.8 million, two-year contract with the Miami Heat. Agent Mark Bartelstein said that the second year is at the former Celtics guard’s option. House was a second-round draft pick by the Heat in 2000 and spent his first three NBA seasons with them. He has since played for eight other teams. House averaged 7.0 points in 68 games off the bench for the New York Knicks.

Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury has agreed to three more years with a Chinese basketball team, whose owners will set up a company to produce and sell his line of athletic apparel and shoes, the team said. Marbury played 15 games last season with Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association. The point guard was a fan favorite in the rust belt city of Taiyuan, showing none of the defiant personality that had alienated management, teammates and fans in the U.S.

Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright, whose body was found in the woods outside Memphis, was shot to death and the case is being investigated as a homicide, police said. Family members had said Wednesday that police told them Wright’s body had been found near an apartment complex. Police delayed confirmation, awaiting an autopsy that confirmed the identity based on dental records, authorities said in a statement. The Shelby County (Tenn.) medical examiner’s office reported that Wright died of a gunshot wound, police said. Wright, a 34-year-old Memphis native, was last seen around midnight July 18. His family filed a missing person report with police July 22, but investigators said as recently as Monday that they didn’t suspect foul play.

The WNBA remains the first-place league in race and gender diversity. The league received a combined grade of A-plus in the annual report released by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. It’s the highest grade for any sport since 2004. The WNBA tied its highest grade ever for gender with 97.5 points out of 100 (an A-plus), and scored 93.5 for race (an A). The report said the WNBA remains the best employer overall for women and people of color in sport. In 2010, the league gained ground for people of color as general managers, assistant coaches and senior administrators, the report said, while women made gains as head coaches, CEO-presidents and senior administrators.

Usain Bolt believes the 100 meters can be run in 9.4 seconds, though he says winning another Olympic gold medal would be good enough for him. Bolt told The Associated Press he would like to be a fixture on the short list of Olympic sprinters who have won gold medals in consecutive Olympics. He shattered world records in the 100 and 200 in Beijing in winning his first gold medals. His world-record time in the 100 stands at 9.58 seconds. The London Olympics are less than two years away.

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush has been transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after undergoing surgery on facial injuries he sustained in a plane crash in Wisconsin. Roush Fenway Racing said in a statement that Roush was taken to the Mayo Clinic Wednesday and is in serious but stable condition. The team does not say what kind of injuries he has from the accident Tuesday night.

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